Many enthusiasts of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series have expressed their delight over the Disney+ adaptation’s faithful representation of the novels. With the anticipation building for season 2, it’s a suitable time to reflect on the missteps of the 2010 film adaptation, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, particularly regarding the major blunder of miscasting Percy’s age. Fortunately, the recent TV series rectifies this error by accurately embodying the essence of the character as a 12-year-old boy, aligning with the timeline of the first book.
Percy Jackson: Depicting the Right Age
Meet Walker Scobell: The Perfect Percy Casting


In the opening volume, The Lightning Thief, Percy is a mere 12 years old when he learns about his divine lineage. As the series progresses, he matures with each subsequent book, culminating in a pivotal age of 18 in Wrath of the Triple Goddess. Similar to the Harry Potter series, the challenges Percy encounters escalate alongside his growth.
Percy Jackson Book Titles |
Percy’s Age |
---|---|
The Lightning Thief |
12 |
The Sea of Monsters |
13 |
The Titan’s Curse |
14 |
The Battle of the Labyrinth |
15 |
The Last Olympian |
16 |
The Chalice of the Gods |
17 |
Wrath of the Triple Goddess |
18 |
The Disney+ series made an astute choice in casting Walker Scobell, who was 13 at the time of filming, for an authentic portrayal of Percy’s age. While he is slightly older than the character, the age difference is negligible, lending credibility to Percy’s character development throughout the series. This positive trend extends to other characters as well, such as Clarisse LaRue, who is set to have a more significant presence in the upcoming season.
The Cost of Aging Up Percy Jackson
The Significance of Percy’s Age in His Development

In the wake of the booming success of the Harry Potter films, 20th Century Fox acquired the rights to adapt the Percy Jackson series with hopes for multiple sequels. Notably, the director of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Christopher Columbus, led the charge. He indicated in a 2009 interview that choosing the right cast was vital for the success of the franchise (source: Highlights).
“I think with Percy Jackson it was a matter of finding the right cast to fit into these roles – the perfect cast for these roles, because hopefully, God willing, we will go on to do other Percy Jackson films and you want the cast to grow with their characters.”
Ironically, Columbus’s vision faltered significantly. In Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, lead actor Logan Lerman, aged 17, portrayed Percy. This casting decision aimed to attract a broader audience, but instead alienated the very fans familiar with the source material. The negative response to the 2010 film led to a lukewarm sequel in 2013, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, ultimately marking the franchise’s end.
Rick Riordan himself cautioned against aging up Percy in a now-deleted letter to the film’s producers, predicting that such a decision would have adverse effects on the film’s reception.
“By making the characters seventeen, you’ve lost those kids as soon as they see the first movie trailer. You signal that this is a teen film, when the core audience is families… Deviating so significantly from the source material risks pleasing no one.”
The movie’s producers and Columbus failed to understand that the aging of Percy left no room for character development across the series. A teenage protagonist in a kids’ narrative fails to resonate with either teens or younger fans. Thankfully, the Disney+ series has accurately captured the essence of both Percy Jackson’s character and the rich tapestry of Greek mythology.